PROLOGUE

To a simple tune of the lyre that was playing in a garden, the wind added a lovely whisper to make the most beautiful Melody as it howled through the Palace.

Standing on the balcony a fairly old woman dressed in Crimson robes hemmed with golden silk thread and adorned with wonderful floral and Phoenix patterns, she bore on her head a golden headdress that was modelled in the crude images of the luan bird bearing small butterflies which appeared a weight quite bearable.

Her eyes dark while a thick fur coat around her neck shielded her well enough from the cold, her cherry lips dry and shivering their was hardly a stroke of heir that was grey on her head.

She took in a deep breath and then let out a sigh, watching the snow falling from where she stood over the gold coated tiles that made up the Palace roof she had never seemed calm yet the aura around her sombre she was lost in so much thought as she could hardly say a word.

Slowly a man appeared from behind dressed in green attire and a black hat and taking his side slightly behind the woman she seemed to notice his presence soon enough.

"As always you are the same this very day." The man remarked.

"Yuan'er, have we not grown old enough?" The woman asked.

"Your Majesty...." the man replied.

"Why not call me Your Highness?" The woman asked, "I am an Empress after all." She added.

"But can the Phoenix Crown contain your most wonderful ambition, can it even come close to harbouring your sincerest motives?" Shi Miyuan asked.

"And why would it not?" The Empress asked.

"Because I know you well enough to tell." Shi Miyuan replied.

"Well enough to tell." The Empress muttered as she laughed sarcastically.

"Am I wrong?" Shi Miyuan asked.

"We could possess any treasure in the world, we could be the best of friends, so much more." The Empress replied.

"Yet still you have questions." Shi Miyuan asked.

"Until this day I have borne the same Crown, sadly enough there's no warm embrace for me in winter, my children are out of reach, all these years alone, except for power I have nothing." The Empress replied and closing her eyes she shed a year that fell in the snow and scattered while another deep sigh followed to relieve her.